Platonism Thread

[Anonymous No.12175760]

All hail the Divine Plato!

Pin this thread if you support Neoplatonism and understand the esoteric interpretation of Plato and have been fully initiated into the mystery cults.

Hide this thread if you support the monstrous abortion that is modern philosophy and think philosophy consists of sophism and word games rather than preparing for death.

Reply if you wish to engage in peaceful dialogue and shary comfy feels regarding knowledge of the forms at this late/early hour.

[Anonymous No.12175769]

>>12175760
Based and Platopilled thread. Modern philosophy can’t compete

[Anonymous No.12175775]

I'm finishing a sci-fi book and then I'll head straight into Complete Plato. I'm excited! Is it going to be a hard read? I'm kind of a brainlet

[Anonymous No.12175776]

>>12175760
640x480x 256 color VGA was the most patrician format prove me wrong

[Anonymous No.12175850]

>>12175776
Standard VGA was 640x480x16.

[Anonymous No.12175930]

>>12175760
Could anyone reccomend one of his dialogues, besides The Republic, That deals with the idea that being creates the world.

[Anonymous No.12175999]

>>12175760
>>12175769
Absolutely based. To me, Plato is not the Father or Founder of Western Philosophy, he IS Western Philosophy itself, the Tree on whom all subsequent philosophies have grown as branches.

[Anonymous No.12176036]

What is argument, guys? There are many definitions. Some say that all discourse is argument. Some say that only valid or sound formulations of logical form can be argument. Some deny that argument is at all. But what the fuck IS it even?

[Anonymous No.12176114]

>>12176036
Based. Anon has realized that at-bottom there exist entities which cannot be defined in terms beyond themselves, which we are so familiar with we don't even notice our lack of ability to understand them. I have learnt much by following this road. Let me throw you a few crumbs of wisdom to set you on the right path. Here are some other concepts which can't be defined except in-themselves:
-Goodness, Beauty, Justice, etc
-Ruler/King/Queen/etc
-Fire, Water, Earth, Air
-Sky, Mountains, Trees, etc
-and many, many other entities

Reflect on them anon. Ask yourself the same question of WHAT they are, not scientifically but as essences. Follow this road, and someday you will see. I can't give you my learnings, you have to get it for yourself. I'll give you a hint: Nondualism.

[Anonymous No.12176168]

>>12175930
Timaeus

[Anonymous No.12176213]

>>12175775
There is large variation in the difficulty of the dialogues. I would start with the traditional 4 dialogues sometimes called "The Last Days of Socrates," which goes: Euthyphro > Apology > Crito > Phaedo. These will give you a good taste for the genre.

[Anonymous No.12176221]

>>12175760
based thread
please let this become a regular thing

[Anonymous No.12176259]

>>12175760
Where do I start with Uzdavinys? He seems to what I’ve been looking for

[Anonymous No.12176334]

>>12176114
You don't seem to understand, I'm genuinely curious.

[Anonymous No.12176347]

>>12175760
>Plato
>divine
>the human being can be divine
You are not doing your homework correctly m8

[Anonymous No.12176368]

>>12176259
Orpheus and the Roots of Platonism is the best intro. Very moving. Written at the end of his life. Similar to Kant's Prolegomena. Philosophy and Theurgy and Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth are somewhat beyond my ken, but worth owning. I would also suggest the authors he cites such as Hadot and McEvilley and Assmann.

[Anonymous No.12176379]

>>12176036
Dialectic is an Encounter by thought with the outside of thought. Ie:love/sex/war/death/rebirth/etc.
>badiouan deleuzean maoist portato fascist with complete fidelity to the schizo socrates event

[Anonymous No.12176386]

>>12176114
I can't put my finger on why, but I'm very grateful for this post. Thank you.

[Anonymous No.12176408]

>>12175775
You might want a reading guide. Or not. Jumping in might be challenging. Jumping around might be fun. Neoplatonists promote the Timaeus and Critias and Parmenides as the peak. Symposium and Republic are usually regarded as the most favorite works of classics and philosophy students respectively. College classes typically read the Trial and Death of Socrates first (Euthyphro, Apology, Meno, and Phaedo).

[Anonymous No.12176416]

>>12176334
Then continue to be so.

[Anonymous No.12176429]

>>12175930

P A R M E N I D E S

A

R

M

E

N

I

D

E

S

[Anonymous No.12176439]

>>12176386
it reaffirms the mystery of life. The fact that over two thousand years later we still can’t explain these core yet abstract concepts proves that there are some things that feel as if they are beyond the mind’s comprehension. Why do we draw blanks when attempting to explain these ‘handles’? You can give examples but you can’t truly capture what it is. It is almost as if by defining something we put it in a box and isolate it. We can’t wrap our minds around certain qualities. They are too big for our minds to corral them. Following this line of thought deeper down the rabbit’s hole makes you realise some pretty peculiar things about the way we think and the nature of reality and the self

[Anonymous No.12176516]

>>12175760
I read a lot of Plato and I like everything he has to say except the bit about art as mere imitation, I think Plotinus has a better idea there.
How do I go about understanding the esoteric implications of his ideas?

[Anonymous No.12176686]

>>12176334
I can't answer it for you, other than tell you that you have the answers already.

>>12176386
You're welcome, friend. For your kind words, I'll give you a few more:
-Purity
-Freedom
-Cuteness
-Humor
-Dream
-Number
-Love
-Emotion (Sadness, Anger, and all others)
-Noses, Eyes, Teeth, Lips, Hair, Hands (and any other physical features)
-Temperature
-Texture

Simply ask yourself the question of "what" these are. Again, not in their scientific definitions, but what they are to you, the one observing them.

>>12176439
The anon here claims the "mystery of life". But I ask you, anon, what is mystery? Mystery is itself a mystery, isn't it? And yet, can this be? Can one speak of a concept at all, here "mystery", without one already knowing what it is?

As I have said, Nondualism holds your and the other anon's answers. Both Plato and Advaita have the answers, which are both Nondualist but from different angles. You must reflect on what I've just told you on your own. I'm sure you'll come to where I have in enough time, just as I did.

[Anonymous No.12176776]

>>12175760
Christ is the Form of the Good

[Anonymous No.12176809]

>>12175760
>philosophy is about preparing for death
I’ve never been able to articulate this but have always felt it.

[Anonymous No.12176820]

>>12176221
Seconding.

[Anonymous No.12176835]

>>12176347
This implies Plato was human.

[Anonymous No.12176844]

>>12175760
Any good secondary literature on the Forms? I'm very unsure of my understanding of the idea, but it seems to me that distinct forms emerge as a result of the space between matter and the contrast that this distance provides.

Also esotericism is a big gay borderline head-canon

[Anonymous No.12176897]

Foucault is better than Plato.

[Anonymous No.12176906]

>>12176897
delet

[Anonymous No.12176924]

What works should I read for a basic understanding and/or introduction to Plato?

[Anonymous No.12177050]

>>12176835
He was

[Anonymous No.12177063]

>>12176924
Reading Plato by Szlezak

[Anonymous No.12177068]

>>12176924
Jesus Christ, just read it. Why do you need someone to dumb it down for you?

[Anonymous No.12177087]

>>12176924
Do as >>12177068 more crudely said and simply read his dialogues directly, anon. His work is presented very accessibly, it's merely that the concepts themselves are so profound that one can and likely will contemplate them for a lifetime after. The concepts thenselves, however, are not difficult to grasp in a basic sense. You'll have plenty of resources afterward to serve as commentary, but you should first read him directly. They aren't simply expositions, they're plays and have dramatic elements in them as well which need to be read directly.

[Anonymous No.12177106]

>>12177050
No evidence for that. In fact all the evidence suggests otherwise.

[Anonymous No.12177192]

>>12177106
This. The general scientific consensus is that he was indeed Divine.

Fun fact: Dante, in his Inferno, placed Plato in the first circle of Hell. Because he was a "virtuous pagan" but not a Christian, even though he lived before the time of Christ. LOL

[Anonymous No.12177218]

Thanks for this thread, OP.

[Anonymous No.12177248]

>>12177192
Plato’s mother was pregnant of Apollo and forbid his father to make love to her, the muses brought honey to his mouth when he was a child to signify that he was going to speak incredible truths, he was the brother of the medicine god Asclepius send from Apollo to humans to tend their souls.

[Anonymous No.12177373]

>>12177248
[citation needed]

[Anonymous No.12177563]

>>12175760
>and have been fully initiated into the mystery cults

How can you consider yourself a "Platonist" in the fullest sense if the initiatic chain of these mystery cults has been severed for a thousand plus years and you completely lack a basis for any sort of theurgy?
The only things left of these traditions in themselves are the texts, and the philosophy they taught was in no way meant to be confined to reading books and thinking about things on a purely virtual level.

[Anonymous No.12177686]

>>12177563
I think he meant it metaphorically, as in, being a metaphorical member of such cults.

[Anonymous No.12177696]

>>12177563
This is true, but you must start somewhere, and the texts are as good a place as any.

[Anonymous No.12177719]

What anons think of Giovanni Reale?

[Anonymous No.12177930]

>>12177373
They’re everywhere, retard. It’s not my fault you have no grounding in the classics.

[Anonymous No.12177944]

>>12175760
>comfy death
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmiwonderwhatthisisaboutmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmustbenothingdeathisquitecomfortingofcoursemmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbased
>>12176809
you're really stupid desu

[Anonymous No.12177976]

>>12177944
Not an argument.

[Anonymous No.12178052]

>>12176429
will do thanks friend

[Anonymous No.12178057]

>>12176168
Ill check it out, thanks

[Anonymous No.12179325]

>Now that which ever-liveth, differs from the Eternal; for He hath not been brought to being by another, and even if He have been brought to being, He hath not been brought into being by Himself, but ever is brought into being.

[Anonymous No.12179450]

I just got the Complete Works and started it, planning to get through some of it during the Christmas break, but at a nice slow pace.

So far I’ve read Euthyphro, Apology, Phaedo, Crito and Theaetetus, and the prose and arguments are actually easier to follow than I expected, with minor exceptions where Socrates makes linguistic jokes that don’t translate into English (they’re explained in the footnotes though).

It’s amazing how much stuff still feels relevant, practical and useful to analyze today, especially the ideas about justice and the social contract in Phaedo, so far.

[Anonymous No.12179559]

>>12176924
I'd say start with The Symposium and The Phaedrus. They are great reads and introduce some interesting concepts. Also read the Apology if you're interested in it. Then you can probably tackle The Republic and you've got yourself a basic introduction of some dialogues and Plato's most important work.

>>12177068
Absolutely retarded answer. How much of value do you think a new reader would retain from simply reading Plato's complete works from beginning to end? As >>12177087 state without grasping reading Plato can very well be a undertaking of a lifetime and there's no point in rushing into it.

[Anonymous No.12179636]

>>12177087
>>12179559
>undertaking of a lifetime
https://youtu.be/2TbbvXK5QS8